Description:
Rwanda is a small mountainous country in central Africa, bordered to
the north by Uganda, to the east by Tanzania, to the south by
Burundi and to the west by the Democratic Republic of Congo. The
country is divided by great peaks of up to 3,000m (9,842ft), which
run across the country from north to south. The Virunga volcanoes,
rising steeply from Lake Kivu in the west, slope down first to a
hilly central plateau and further eastwards to an area of marshy
lakes around the upper reaches of the A’Kagera River, where the
A’Kagera National Park is situated.

Population:

8.6 million (UN estimate 2005).

Languages:

The official languages are Kinyarwanda, French and English.
Kiswahili is used for trade and commerce.

Economy - overview:Rwanda’s economy, which is based on subsistence agriculture, was
devastated by the massacres of 1994, the huge refugee populations
that resulted, political upheaval and, since then, ongoing fighting
in several parts of the country.
Plantains, sweet potatoes, cassava and beans are grown for domestic
consumption; tea and coffee are the principal cash crops and there
is extensive livestock farming. Some rice and sugar plantations have
also been developed.
Rwanda has some mineral deposits – principally tin ores, but also
several ores containing rare metals such as tungsten and tantalum,
which are in heavy demand in the world market. Extraction of the
large natural gas reserves discovered beneath Lake Kivu has begun,
although it has been disrupted by local fighting.
The industrial sector produces tobacco, metal goods, chemicals,
rubber and plastics. In the service sector, the embryonic tourism
industry (geared towards ecotourism) has had to restart from scratch
as a result of the 1994 genocide and subsequent events.
Given the political situation, exacerbated by a series of poor
harvests during the late 1990s, it is hardly surprising therefore
that Rwanda continues to rely heavily on international aid.
A new Structural Adjustment Programme was begun in 1998, followed by
an ambitious privatisation programme: both are being conducted under
the supervision of the IMF and World Bank. In 2002,
telecommunications and government-owned tea plantations were put up
for sale. The results so far have been quite good: the economy grew
5.8% in 2005 and inflation was 6.7%. But, like most sub-Saharan
African economies, Rwanda is especially vulnerable to commodity
price movements; these are presently at a very low level.
Aid donors have also promised further assistance conditional on
Rwanda pulling its troops out of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The main regional cooperation mechanism for Rwanda is the Common
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

Economy: Rwanda’s economy, which is based on subsistence agriculture, was
devastated by the massacres of 1994, the huge refugee populations
that resulted, political upheaval and, since then, ongoing fighting
in several parts of the country.
Plantains, sweet potatoes, cassava and beans are grown for domestic
consumption; tea and coffee are the principal cash crops and there
is extensive livestock farming. Some rice and sugar plantations have
also been developed.
Rwanda has some mineral deposits – principally tin ores, but also
several ores containing rare metals such as tungsten and tantalum,
which are in heavy demand in the world market. Extraction of the
large natural gas reserves discovered beneath Lake Kivu has begun,
although it has been disrupted by local fighting.
The industrial sector produces tobacco, metal goods, chemicals,
rubber and plastics. In the service sector, the embryonic tourism
industry (geared towards ecotourism) has had to restart from scratch
as a result of the 1994 genocide and subsequent events.
Given the political situation, exacerbated by a series of poor
harvests during the late 1990s, it is hardly surprising therefore
that Rwanda continues to rely heavily on international aid.
A new Structural Adjustment Programme was begun in 1998, followed by
an ambitious privatisation programme: both are being conducted under
the supervision of the IMF and World Bank. In 2002,
telecommunications and government-owned tea plantations were put up
for sale. The results so far have been quite good: the economy grew
5.8% in 2005 and inflation was 6.7%. But, like most sub-Saharan
African economies, Rwanda is especially vulnerable to commodity
price movements; these are presently at a very low level.
Aid donors have also promised further assistance conditional on
Rwanda pulling its troops out of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The main regional cooperation mechanism for Rwanda is the Common
Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.